FUN FINAL FOUR FACTS: MEMPHIS TIGERS

(1) We're gonna self-promote right off the bat (holla!): we did a video about Derrick Rose before he had even set foot on a college court.

(2) Memphis changes conferences more often than you change the oil. They started in Mississippi Valley, went to Missouri Valley, then Metro Conference, then Great Midwest, then finally C-USA.

(3) Fed-Ex Forum, home of the Tigers, was the first arena to ever utilize a "see-through shot clock" for the benefit of spectators behind the basket. The Cameron Crazies owe Memphis a debt of gratitude.

(4) Larry Finch, the all-time wins leader in Memphis coaching history, was also a player when the school was called Memphis State. He entered immediately after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and was one of the first Memphis-based African-Americans to play there; the decision was considered racially divisive at the time (Texas Western, starting five blacks beat Kentucky, starting five whites, in the title game a year later). Fitch is now perhaps more associated with the program than any single figure.

(5) 1973 NCAA Title game? UCLA vs. Memphis (hey! That sounds familiar!) UCLA won, in part because Bill Walton (hey! He works for us!) went 21 of 22 from the floor.

(6) Pretty simple way they came up with their nickname: after the final football game of the 1914 season, students screamed "We fight like Tigers!" It stuck. Tigers also enjoy water, a rarity for felines.

(7) Speaking of the Tigers, the current mascot is TOM II (he won't be in San Antonio), who lives in a private facility on campus valued at over $300,000; it surpasses the quality of many zoos!

(8) Want to learn a sick crossover? Chris Douglas Roberts can teach you how .

(9) Joey Dorsey has been pretty quiet this week, which is good; last year he called Greg Oden "over-rated" before their meeting in the Elite Eight, and Oden owned him.

(10) Pierre Niles, a 310-pound backup forward, once slapped a UAB fan across the face . The lesson, do NOT mess with men named Pierre.

(11) Eleven Memphis hoopsters live together in one house [Ed's note: Wow]. Joey Dorsey's take on said dwelling: "It's decked out, too; the living room's got 42-inch flat screens where we can watch game tapes, or review player personnel. Or we can go upstairs where there's a theater, and just watch movies." Screens? As in, plural?

(12) If you're wondering what happened to DeJuan Wagner (we were!), he plays for Prokom in Poland, purportedly.

(13) Derrick Rose has a rather intense fear of needles. Why? When he was 7, he fell off his bike and another child accidentally ran over his head, causing a large wound. At the hospital, he broke away from the staff as they tried to deal with him, so he had to be taped to a gurney to get stitches. That's about the only way to contain him.

(14) John Calipari's middle name is "Vincent." Is there really anything else it could be?

(15) Calipari's got a connection to every team in the Final Four: he was a Kansas assistant (1982-1985), the only coach with more wins through 16 years of coaching college ball is Roy Williams, and UCLA beat him down in his first Elite Eight trip with Memphis, two years ago.

(16) You want to understand the 'dribble drive motion' offense Memphis rolls? (It's been called "Princeton on steroids") Check this video .

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